Review: Gray’s School of Art Fashion Show 2013

For some the degree fashion show feels like the end but last week GUM attended the Gray’s School of Art Fashion Design Runway Show and there was certainly a sense of action and motivation. Only a few days after obtaining their degree, finding out that two of their graduates are nominees for the Scottish fashion awards and many finding out about Masters degrees and jobs, before the show even started there was already a great sense of achievement.

The evening kicked off with a collection from Laura Sherriff. The collection paid great attention to detail and set the tone for the night. The next hour was a display of workmanship and new gen design.

Persimmon, A Selective Colour was the sleek show stopping collection by Debbie Mcleod. Her designs were minimalistic and masculine although the use of mohair knit softened the collection. Her use of colour was most interesting as the oranges against the gray, black and white proved both tasteful and modernist. When asked about her collection McLeod stated it was: “A simplistic outlook…blending each design into the background as if it were its own creation”.

Peter Hannaway’s collection Cultures Unknown was another favorite of mine. His collection focused on shape and structure taking inspiration from modern architecture. His white and blue collection was created using neoprene and to top it all off Hannaway created a few beautiful printed garments that brought everything together.

Peter Hannaway, Culture Unknown

In terms of finish and workmanship the show displayed a budding group of creative pattern cutters as garment after garment the detail and construction was becoming more intricate; each design was finished to perfection.

One brave student broke the norm of designing womenswear and decided to tackle menswear. Amy Clydesdale took inspiration from Glasgow’s electro nightlife scene, calling her collection “Going down to La La Land”, a popular tune by Green Velvet. She produced a range of innovative menswear garments, including heavily panelled jumpers, t-shirts and jeans which all displayed an astute understanding of menswear.

Going down to La La Land

Gray’s School of Art’s latest degree show has once again shown that ‘The Granite City’ boasts a wealth of up-and-coming designers ready to lead us into the future of fashion design.